Left: Tyler Robinson (Utah Governor’s Office). Right: Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk speaks before Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump arrives at the Turning Point Believers’ Summit, Friday, July 26, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon).
A Utah man has been arrested in connection with the shooting death of popular conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, authorities announced on Friday morning.
Tyler Robinson, 22, was taken into custody by investigators at around 10 p.m. on Sept. 11, according to FBI Director Kash Patel.
“We got him,” Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox said during the press conference announcing the arrest. “On the evening of September 11th, a family member of Tyler Robinson reached out to a family friend who contacted the Washington County Sheriff’s Office with information that Robinson had confessed to them or implied that he had committed the incident.”
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Kirk, the co-founder of Turning Point USA, was assassinated by a sniper’s bullet at around 12:20 p.m. on Wednesday, September 10.
University officials quickly identified the likely site of the shooter’s position as the roof of the Losee Center – which is located roughly 200 yards away from where Kirk was sitting in a tent while conducting one of his famous debates with all comers. During his final moments, Kirk and a student were discussing gun violence.
Authorities recovered a towel-wrapped older model Mauser bolt action .30-06 caliber rifle equipped with a long-distance scope from a wooded area immediately adjacent to the Utah Valley University campus in Orem, Utah. The firearm was found with one expended shell casing inside the bolt mechanism, officials said.
The fired casing was allegedly engraved with the phrase: “Notices bulges OWO what’s this?” which is an apparent reference to a meme.
During the press conference, Cox cleared up misinformation about inscriptions on the bullets. Earlier reports described the bullets as engraved with “transgender and antifascist” ideology. The Beehive State’s governor said one of the unspent bullets was engraved with the phrase: “Hey fascist! Catch!” followed by a series of arrows which appears to reference a video game controller code. The second bullet allegedly reads: “If you read this you are gay LMAO.” The third unfired bullet allegedly contained lyrics from the Italian folk song “Bella Ciao,” which is widely considered an anti-fascist anthem.
Those descriptions of the gun, ammunition and location where they were found aligned with similar descriptions allegedly made by Robinson to his roommate in a series of Discord messages, Cox said.
Multiple attendees at the American Comeback Tour event filmed the incident as it happened. Numerous such videos, many of them exceedingly graphic, made their way across social media in the immediate aftermath of the violence. Later, social media companies began to clamp down on sharing such footage – along with posts viewed as celebrating or glorifying the incident.
The next morning, authorities released two photos of a “subject” which, in FBI parlance, is effectively akin to the law enforcement phrase “person of interest.” Those photos depict a white male wearing sunglasses, a baseball cap, blue jeans, and a dark-colored long-sleeve shirt with a stylized American flag graphic on the chest.
Within 24 hours of the shooting, law enforcement had received in excess of 200 tips. By Thursday afternoon, the FBI issued a $100,000 reward for evidence leading to the apprehension of a suspect. Patel, during the Friday morning press conference, said authorities had ultimately received in excess of 11,000 tips.
Robinson is expected to be charged with counts of aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury and obstruction of justice, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by NBC News.
Tyler Robinson in profile (Utah Governor’s Office).
Robinson is not a student at UVU, authorities said. The alleged killer lived in Washington County – which is located some 260 miles southwest of the UVU campus.
One member of the defendant’s family described a recent change in Robinson, noting that he had become more political, according to Cox. That family member went on to describe a recent dinner where the subject of Kirk’s upcoming UVU appearance was discussed.
“It is an attack on all of us,” Cox said, of Kirk’s killing and broader political violence. “It is an attack on the American experiment. It is an attack on our ideals. This cuts to the very foundation of who we are, of who we have been, and who we could be in better times.”
Robinson did not vote in the last presidential election and is not registered to vote in primary elections for any political party in Utah, Law&Crime has learned.
Kirk’s assassination is widely viewed as a watershed moment in U.S. politics, if not the makings of martyrdom. The 31-year-old father’s public killing set off a torrent of sadness and anger among Republican politicians and fellow conservative influencers. His passing also drew plaudits from some of his political opponents.
President Donald Trump was one of the first sources to confirm Kirk’s death and addressed the nation later that same night – promising a heavy-handed crackdown against “each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it.”
The 45th and 47th president also announced the arrest during a Friday morning appearance on Fox News.
“Somebody that’s close recognizes even a little tilt of the head, which nobody else would do,” Trump said. “And somebody that was very close to him said ‘hmm, that’s him’ and essentially went to the father, went to a U.S. Marshal.”
